Detroit school board member urges deaf students to report to former school on first day in protest of closure

View full size(Gus Burns | MLive Detroit)Buses line the streets during the Detroit Public Schools parade in downtown Detroit on Wednesday.

DETROIT, MI -- A school board member during an informal meeting at Douglass Academy today told students of the closed Detroit Day School for the Deaf to show up there on the first day of classes, according to a Detroit Free Press report.

Board members met in defiance of state-appointed emergency manager Roy Roberts in order to hear from parents concerned about 42 deaf students who were reassigned to other schools, according to the report.

Speaking to a crowd of about 50, board member Elena Herrada encouraged students to protest the closure when school starts by reporting to DDSD, which is being converted to administrative offices.

Herrada encouraged the audience - mostly supporters of the now-closed
school - to protest. She told school members to report to the school
the first day of school - Sept. 4 – even though the students are
assigned to other schools.

"That's your building, go to your building. We will be there
with you," Herrada said, her voice shaking with emotion. "You're not
asking for anything other than what you are entitled to -- an
education."

The meeting was held informally because Roberts refused to pick up the costs of a special meeting in an ongoing struggle for power between the board, which holds academic control over the district, and the emergency manager, who holds financial power.Read Dawsey's full report here.

The board intends to hold an official meeting Friday, 6 p.m. at Douglass, 2001 W. Warren.